Chapter VI: Preface: NEW YORK, Oct. 5, 1888 (3)

James Clinton, born on the 13th of August, 1736, at the family residence, in what is now Orange County, New York, received an excellent education under the supervision of his father, paying much attention to the exact sciences, and early evincing that taste for military enterprise which he inherited from his English ancestors. In 1756, he received the appointment of ensign in the militia, and remaining in the army after the peace of 1763, steadily rose by promotion to the rank of lieutenant-colonel. At the close of the French and Indian War, he married Miss Mary de Witt, a lady of great personal attractions and a descendant of an old Holland family. In June, 1775, renouncing his allegiance to Great Britain, he was appointed colonel of the Third New York Regiment, and joined Montgomery in the expedition against Canada. August 9, 1776, he was raised to the rank of brigadier-general, and served to the close of the war, faithfully discharging the duties of the several stations he was called upon to fill. With his brother, Gov. George Clinton, he conducted the defence of Fort Clinton in October, 1777, until overpowered by vastly superior numbers, and then escaped, though severely wounded, by sliding down a precipice of a hundred feet to a shallow stream. Wading for some distance up the stream, he threw his pursuers off the scent. In 1779, having joined General Sullivan in an expedition against the Indians, he materially aided by a clever engineering feat in the rapid transportation of the troops. Though stationed during most of the war in command of the Northern Department at Albany, he took part during the siege of Yorktown and the surrender of Cornwallis. After the evacuation of the city of New York by the British, he took leave of his commander-in-chief and retired to his home in Orange County. Subsequently he held various civil positions of trust and responsibility, and died on the 22d of September, 1812, at his residence in his native State.

CHRISTOPHER GADSDEN.

Christopher Gadsden, born in Charleston, South Carolina, in 1724, was sent to England at an early age to receive his education. Returning to America in 1741, he was placed in a Philadelphia counting-house, where he acquired methodical and strict business habits. Upon attaining his majority, he revisited England. Returning in a man-of-war, and the purser dying suddenly, the position was offered to him. He accepted the appointment, remained in the navy two years, and resigned to engage in commercial life on his own account in Philadelphia. Such was his success that he was soon able to buy back the estate in South Carolina which his father had lost in 1733 at play with Admiral Lord Anson. Leaving the North, he took up his residence in the South as a planter, and finally became a factor.

In 1759, when the outrages perpetrated by the Cherokee Indians called for vigorous measures, Gadsden joined the expedition under Governor Lyttleton, organized an artillery company, and introduced the first piece of field ordnance into the colony. Thoroughly republican in his political views, and with a mind capable of looking far ahead for the results of present measures, he was the first to anticipate the struggle that would surely be the outcome of Great Britain’s oppressive policy toward her American colonies. In 1765, when the project of the general Congress in this country was conceived, he was one of the first and most active members. In 1775, he resigned his seat to accept the appointment of colonel in the First South Carolina Regiment. On the 16th of September, 1776, Congress raised him to the rank of brigadier-general. The brilliant victory at Fort Moultrie secured to his native State for several years an immunity from the perils and hardships of war, and he resigned his commission on the 2d of October, 1777.

With the cessation of military duties, Gadsden resumed his legislative cares; and being Lieutenant-Governor of South Carolina at the time of General Lincoln’s surrender of Charleston, he was seized with twenty-eight others and taken in a prison-ship to St. Augustine, Florida. Here he was kept in the castle dungeon for ten months; but beguiling the time by the study of Hebrew, he emerged from captivity a much more learned man than when he entered it. The success of Greene in the South brought him release in 1781. Upon returning to South Carolina he was at once elected to the Assembly, and soon after chosen governor. The latter honor he declined, declaring the “State needed a man in the vigor and prime of life.” At the close of the war he retired to private life; but from time to time and on more than one occasion he continued to take part in public affairs. He died in his native city on the 28th of August, 1805, from the results of a fall.

LACHLAN McINTOSH.

Lachlan McIntosh, born near Inverness, Scotland, on the 17th of March, 1727, emigrated with his family to America in 1736 and settled in Georgia. His early education was but limited, and at the age of seventeen, being thrown upon his own resources by the death of his father, he removed to Charleston, South Carolina, and entered a counting-house as clerk. After several years, however, he adopted the calling of land surveyor, married, and returned to Georgia, employing his spare time in the study of civil engineering and military tactics. Having gained the confidence and esteem of his fellow-citizens, when hostilities began with Great Britain he was made colonel-commander of the Georgia troops, and on the 16th of September, 1776, promoted by Congress to be brigadier-general. In 1777, he was employed for a considerable time in watching the motions of General Howe in Philadelphia. In 1778, he headed an expedition against the Indian tribes along the Ohio, and succeeded in giving repose to all western Pennsylvania and Virginia. In 1779, he joined General Lincoln in the invasion of Georgia, which proving unsuccessful, the Americans retreated to Charleston, South Carolina, where they were besieged and obliged to surrender on the 12th of May, 1780.

General McIntosh was held a prisoner for a long period, and when he was released, the war was practically over. On the 30th of September, 1783, he became major-general by brevet, and retired to his home in Georgia. In 1784, he served as member of Congress, and the next year as a commissioner to treat with the Southern Indians. The war, however, depreciated the value of his real estate, so that his latter years were passed in comparative poverty and retirement. He died in Savannah on the 20th of February, 1806, in the seventy-ninth year of his age.

WILLIAM MAXWELL.

William Maxwell, though little is known of his personal history, is believed to have been born in Ireland, and brought to New Jersey in his early life. He entered the colonial service in 1758, serving through the French and Indian War, and as colonel of one of the New Jersey regiments, took part in the disastrous campaign of 1776 in Canada. On the 23d of October of that year he was commissioned brigadier-general. He was with Schuyler on Lake Champlain, and later was attached to the main army under Washington. In August, 1779, he joined Sullivan’s expedition against the Indians, but soon after the action at Springfield, he sent in his resignation, which was accepted by Congress on the 25th of July, 1780. Washington said of him, “I believe him to be an honest man, a warm friend to his country, and firmly attached to its interests.” He died on the 12th of November, 1798.

MATTHIAS ALEXIS ROCHE DE FERMOY.

Matthias Alexis Roche de Fermoy, born in the West Indies in 1737, was the thirty-fourth on the list of Continental brigadier-generals, his commission bearing date the 5th of November, 1776. On coming to this country and offering his services to Congress, Fermoy represented himself to be a colonel of engineers in the French army. While serving under Washington in the Trenton and Princeton campaigns, he was ordered on the 1st of January, 1777, to hold an advanced post on Mile Run, beyond Maidenhead, now Lawrenceville. That same night, however, leaving his command, he returned to Trenton,--a breach of discipline that under the circumstances was most reprehensible. Ordered North to join the army under Gates, by direction of Congress, and notwithstanding a protest from Washington, he was placed in command of Fort Independence, opposite Fort Ticonderoga. When St. Clair found it necessary to abandon the latter post, Fermoy, in defiance of the express orders of the commanding officer, set fire to his quarters on Mount Independence at two o’clock on the morning of the 6th of July, 1777, thus revealing to Burgoyne St. Clair’s retreat, which otherwise would have been accomplished in safety. In December, he applied for promotion to the rank of major-general,--a request which Congress refused. Displeased at this action, Fermoy requested permission to resign, which was granted on the 31st of January, 1778, Congress at the same time appropriating $800 to pay his debts and enable him to return to the West Indies.

ENOCH POOR.

Enoch Poor, born in Andover, Massachusetts, on the 21st of June, 1736, was educated in the common schools of his native place. Removing to Exeter, New Hampshire, he engaged in commercial pursuits until summoned by his country to take up arms in her defence. Immediately after the battle of Lexington, three regiments of militia were raised and equipped in New Hampshire, and the command of one intrusted to Poor. Serving first in New England, then in New York, and afterward joining in the ill-starred Canadian expedition, he used all his influence to dissuade General Schuyler from abandoning Crown Point, and when that measure was decided upon, joined with several other officers in sending him a written protest. Considering this a breach of discipline, Schuyler appealed to the commander-in-chief, who, while declining to reverse the general’s decision, wrote him a private letter, approving Colonel Poor’s judgment, and regretting the abandonment of Crown Point, which he considered the key of the lakes. On the 21st of February, 1777, Poor was commissioned brigadier-general and attached to the army under Washington. In 1779, he joined the expedition against the Six Nations and subsequently was attached to Lee’s command, remaining with him until after the defeat at Monmouth, when Poor was ordered to join the division under Lafayette. The following year he fell a victim to fever, dying, after a short illness, at Hackensack, New Jersey, on the 8th of September, 1780. Washington, in acquainting Congress with the sad intelligence, said of him, “He was an officer of distinguished merit, who as a citizen and a soldier had every claim to the esteem of his country;” and Lafayette, on revisiting this country many years after, testified his loving remembrance by paying a tribute to the memory of Poor when called upon for a toast.

JOHN GLOVER.

John Glover, born in Salem, Massachusetts, on the 5th of November, 1732, joined the army under Washington in 1775, with a regiment of a thousand men raised in the district about his native town. Being composed almost entirely of Marblehead fishermen, it was known as the “amphibious regiment,” and was one of the finest in the whole Continental service. It was at first the Twenty-first, and after the reorganization of the army the Fourteenth, Massachusetts Regiment. It was this body of men, under the command of Glover, that manned the boats and transported the entire main army in safety on the retreat from Long Island in 1775, and that manned the boats and led the advance when the commander-in-chief crossed the Delaware on that memorable 25th of December, 1776. When Congress, on the 21st of February, 1777, conferred upon Glover the rank of brigadier-general, he would have declined, fearing he could not discharge with credit the duties of that position. Being reassured by Washington, however, he accepted, and by his subsequent conduct justified that general’s estimate of his abilities. He was a member of the André court of inquiry which assembled on Sept. 29, 1780, at which Nathaniel Greene presided. He remained in active service throughout the war, earning the good opinion of all who knew him, and died at Marblehead on the 30th of January, 1797.

JOHN PATERSON.

John Paterson, born in New Britain, Connecticut, in 1744, graduated at Yale College in 1762, taught school, practised law, and was justice of the peace in his native town. Removing to Lenox, Massachusetts, he was elected a member of the first Provincial Congress of that State, which met at Salem in October, 1774; and of the second, whose place of meeting was Cambridge, in February, 1775. Deeply interested in the welfare of his country, he busied himself in enrolling and organizing a regiment of minute-men, composed of eight months’ volunteers. Eighteen hours after the news of the battle of Lexington reached them, this regiment, armed and mostly in uniform, marched away to Boston, and upon their arrival were employed in constructing the first American redoubt on the lines about the city. In the battle which followed they manned and gallantly defended this outwork. After the evacuation of the city, Colonel Paterson was ordered to Canada, and after some active service in the North joined Washington just in time to cross the Delaware and take part in the battles of Trenton and Princeton. Feb. 21, 1777, he was made brigadier-general, and being attached to the Northern Department, was present at the surrender of Burgoyne, and remained in service to the close of the war. In 1786, he aided in quelling Shays’ Rebellion in Massachusetts; he was presiding judge of Broome County, New York, and spent the last years of his life quietly on his farm, dying on the 19th of July, 1808, at Lisle, now Whitney’s Point, New York.

JAMES MITCHELL VARNUM.

James Mitchell Varnum, born in Dracut, Massachusetts, in 1748, graduated with a high reputation for scholarship in 1769, at the age of twenty, from Rhode Island College, now Brown University. He adopted the law as his profession, was admitted to the Bar, and rapidly acquired an extensive and lucrative practice. Reading the signs of the times aright, and feeling that soon there must be an appeal to arms, he joined the “Kentish Guards,” and in 1774 was made commander. Soon after the battle of Lexington, he entered the Continental service as colonel; and on the 21st of February, 1777, he was promoted to the rank of brigadier-general. With undoubted military ability, he enjoyed few opportunities of distinguishing himself, though assigned several important commands. He passed the winter of 1777–78 with Washington at Valley Forge, and in the spring proposed the raising of a battalion of negroes in Rhode Island; the State Legislature acceded, and passed an act giving absolute freedom to every slave who should enter the service and pass muster.

On the 5th of March, 1779, Varnum resigned his commission, there being a greater number of general officers than was required for the army; but soon after, he was elected major-general of the militia of his native State, retaining that position until his death. He was twice elected to Congress, and in 1788 removed to Marietta, Ohio, having been appointed one of the judges of the Supreme Court of the Northwest Territory. He was a member of the Society of the Cincinnati. Death put an end to his brief but brilliant career on the 10th of January, 1789.

ANTHONY WAYNE.

Anthony Wayne, born Jan. 1, 1745, in the township of Easttown, Chester County, Pennsylvania, was of Irish parentage. In boyhood he showed the military bias of his aspirations by his close study of mathematics and engineering, that he might fit himself to enter the army. From his marriage, in 1767, to 1774, his occupation was that of a farmer and land surveyor; in 1774–75 he was a member of the Pennsylvania Legislature, and in the latter year, of the Committee of Public Safety. The oppressive policy adopted by Great Britain toward the American colonies aroused all his military spirit; and resigning his seat in the Legislature, he raised a company of volunteers, and received from Congress on the 3d of January, 1776, his commission as colonel. Increasing his company to a regiment, he was ordered with it to New York and afterward to Canada. The 21st of February, 1777, marks the date of his promotion to brigadier-general, and in May, having joined the army under Washington, he distinguished himself by driving the enemy from New Jersey. His skill as a commander, and his personal courage, secured him a conspicuous part in the battles that followed; and being intrusted with a foraging expedition to relieve the destitute army in winter-quarters at Valley Forge, he secured large stores of provisions and many horses for the cavalry, at the same time defeating the enemy in numerous skirmishes.

At the battle of Monmouth, Wayne’s brave conduct gained for him personal notice in the report sent by Washington to Congress, while his brilliant achievement at Stony Point was recognized by a resolution of thanks in Congress, and in the General Assembly of Pennsylvania. After rendering other important services in the North, realizing what had been said of him early in the war, that “where Wayne went, there was a fight always,--that was his business,” he was sent in 1781 to join the Southern army, and was actively engaged in the siege of Yorktown until the final surrender. The efforts of the Americans were now directed to dislodging the British from their two remaining strongholds; and so vigorously was the war carried on in Georgia and South Carolina that by direction of the home Government Savannah was evacuated on the 12th of July, 1782, and Charleston in the latter part of the same year, Wayne marching in and taking possession on the 14th of December,--his last military service during the Revolution. In July, 1783, he returned to his home and civil life. On the 30th of September, he was appointed major-general by brevet; in April, 1792, President Washington nominated him commander-in-chief of an army to subdue the Indians of the Northwest; and after the delays consequent upon organizing and disciplining his men, Wayne began active operations in 1794, resulting in the complete discomfiture of the savage tribes and their British allies. This victory brought valuable territory to the United States, and a long peace with the Indians. After a visit to his home, he returned to the West to fulfil his duties as commissioner, and died soon after from an attack of gout on the 15th of December, 1796, “after a life of honor and usefulness.”

No general ever gained more sobriquets than Wayne; that most widely known, “Mad Anthony,” was given on account of his unexpected success in perilous expeditions, though Washington called him “prudent.” The title of “Dandy Wayne” was also applied to him because of his scrupulous attention to his dress; and in a letter to Washington he declares his preference for an elegant uniform and soldierly appearance, rather than poorly clad troops with more ammunition. The Indians at first called him “Black Snake,” perhaps because that reptile will attack any other species and rarely gets the worst of an encounter. After he defeated them in 1794, however, they named him “Wind,” or “Tornado,” because “he was exactly like a hurricane that drives and tears and prostrates everything before it.”

JOHN PHILIP DE HAAS.

John Philip de Haas, born in Holland about 1735, belonged to an ancient family of northern France. In 1750, he removed with his father to the United States, settling in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. He served as ensign during the French and Indian War, taking part in Bouquet’s battle with the Indians at Bushy Run near Pittsburg, August 5 and 6, 1763. In 1776, he was appointed colonel of the First Pennsylvania Regiment, and assisted in the Canada campaign and at Ticonderoga. After the battle of Long Island, he was promoted to be brigadier-general on the 21st of February, 1777, and served in that rank to the close of the war. The remainder of his life was spent in Philadelphia, where he died on the 3d of June, 1795.

JOHN PETER MUHLENBURG.

John Peter Muhlenburg, born in Trappe, Pennsylvania, on the 1st of October, 1746, was the son of Reverend Henry Melchior Muhlenburg, D.D., the founder of the Lutheran Church in America. At the age of sixteen he was sent to Germany to be educated, but while at Halle enlisted in a regiment of dragoons, from which he was released through the intervention of friends. Returning to this country in 1766, he studied theology with his father, and was for a time pastor of the Lutheran churches in New Germantown and Bedminster, New Jersey. In 1772, he accepted a call to a church of the same denomination in Woodstock, Virginia; but finding he could not enforce the payment of tithes unless he had received Episcopal ordination, he went to England to secure this, and returning, continued his labors in the same State. Watching with keenest interest the train of events, he educated his congregation as well as himself for the duties of freemen, which he believed would soon devolve upon them. In 1775, at the earnest solicitations of Washington, to whom his ardent patriotism and military spirit were well known, he resolved to abandon his pulpit and enter the army. He took leave of his congregation in an eloquent sermon on the text, “The Lord of hosts shall arm the right,” and concluded, after rehearsing the wrongs this country had suffered from Great Britain, by exclaiming, “There is a time for all things,--a time to preach and a time to pray; but there is also a time to fight, and that time has now come;” and throwing off his gown, he appeared in complete uniform. By his orders the drum and fife of the recruiting officer at this moment sounded at the church door, and over three hundred of his congregation enlisted and marched with their former pastor at their head to the relief of Charleston, South Carolina.

Muhlenburg’s war record includes the battles of Sullivan’s Island, Brandywine, Germantown, Monmouth, Stony Point, and Yorktown, his commission as brigadier-general in the Continental army bearing date the 21st of February, 1777. At the close of the Revolution he was elected to the Pennsylvania council, and in 1785 became vice-president of the State, with Benjamin Franklin as president. After the organization of the federal Government he acted as representative and senator, was appointed by President Jefferson supervisor of the revenue for the district of Pennsylvania, and in 1803 collector of the port of Philadelphia. While holding this office, he died near Schuylkill, Montgomery County, on the 1st of October, 1807,--the anniversary of his birthday.

FRANCIS NASH.

Francis Nash, born in Prince George’s County, Virginia, on the 10th of March, 1720, was clerk of the Superior Court of Orange County, North Carolina, and holding a captain’s commission also under the crown, helped to defeat the Regulators at the battle of Alamance in 1771. These insurgents had banded together for the avowed purpose of shutting up the courts of justice, destroying all officers of law and all lawyers, and prostrating the Government itself. In August, 1775, he received a commission as colonel from the North Carolina Convention, and on the 5th of February, 1777, entered the Continental service as brigadier-general, joining the army under Washington. At the battle of Germantown, on the 4th of October of the same year, while at the head of his brigade, he was mortally wounded, dying a few days after. In November of that year, Congress passed a resolution to erect a monument to his memory at a cost of $500; but the resolution was never carried into effect.

GEORGE WEEDON.

George Weedon, born in Fredericksburg, Virginia, 1730, was an innkeeper in his native town, and a zealous patriot. Entering the army near the beginning of the Revolution in 1776, he held the rank of lieutenant-colonel, and was commissioned brigadier-general by the Continental Congress on the 21st of February, 1777. He took part in the battles of Brandywine and Germantown, in the former co-operating with General Greene in checking the British pursuit, and rallying the retreating American troops. He retired from the army on the 18th of August, 1778, owing to a disagreement with General Woodford on the question of supremacy in rank. In 1780, however, he resumed command of his brigade, and in 1781, during the siege of Yorktown, had charge of the Virginia Militia stationed at Gloucester. He died in Fredericksburg about the year 1790.

JOHN CADWALADER.

John Cadwalader, born in Philadelphia, Jan. 10, 1743, began early in life to take an active part in public affairs. He was a member of the Philadelphia Committee of Safety, and captain of a military organization, half admiringly and half derisively dubbed by the citizens the “Silk Stocking Company,” nearly every member of which subsequently held a commission in the patriot army. On the formation of the city battalions, he was placed in command of one of them. When Washington, after his retreat through the Jerseys, established himself on the Pennsylvania side of the Delaware River, opposite Trenton, Cadwalader, at the head of fifteen hundred militia-men, marched to his assistance. January, 1777, Washington urged upon Congress the appointment of Cadwalader to the Continental army, describing him as “a man of ability, a good disciplinarian, firm in his principles, and of intrepid bravery.” On the 21st of February, 1777, he was offered the commission of brigadier-general, but declined, preferring to remain in the Provincial service. During this year he took part in the battles of Brandywine and Germantown, and at the request of Washington assisted in organizing the Maryland Militia.

After the discovery and frustration of the “Conway cabal” and the consequent disgrace of its author, Cadwalader became cognizant of some offensive remarks made by Conway concerning Washington, and called the disparager of the commander-in-chief to account. Conway refusing to retract, Cadwalader challenged him, and in the duel which followed, though escaping injury himself, shot Conway in the mouth. Again in September, 1778, Congress offered him the appointment of brigadier-general; and again he declined, stating his belief that the war was almost at an end. When the war was at last ended, he removed to Maryland, was elected to the State Legislature, and died in Shrewsbury, Pennsylvania, on the 11th of February, 1786, in the forty-fourth year of his age.

WILLIAM WOODFORD.

William Woodford, born in Caroline County, Virginia, in 1735, served with credit in the French and Indian War, and was appointed colonel of the second regiment raised by his native State in 1775. Evincing considerable military ability, and gaining a decided victory at the battle of Great Bridge, where he was in command, upon the recommendation of Washington he was made brigadier-general in the Continental army, Feb. 21, 1777. At the battle of Brandywine, he was severely wounded in the hand. Having been ordered to the South in 1779, he was taken prisoner by the British at Charleston, May 21, 1780; and being sent to New York that summer, he died there on the 13th of November of the same year.

GEORGE CLINTON.

George Clinton, born on the 26th of July, 1739, in Little Britain, Ulster County, New York, was of English extraction, his father having emigrated to this country in 1729. In early life he evinced his love of enterprise and adventure by leaving home to sail in a privateer. Upon his return he joined the English troops in the French and Indian War; but when peace was restored, he left the army and entered upon the study of the law. Gaining reputation in his profession, he was chosen in 1768 a representative to the Colonial Assembly and afterward, in 1775, to the Continental Congress. He voted for the Declaration of Independence; but the invasion of New York by the enemy, and the trouble and excitement engendered by the Loyalists, caused him to be summoned home before that famous document was ready for the signatures. Having been appointed brigadier-general of the New York Militia in July, 1776, he served in that capacity until the 25th of March, 1777, when he was transferred to the Continental army with the same rank; and the unfinished defences along the Hudson were committed to his care. On the 6th of October these fortresses were stormed, and at last, on account of their unfinished condition and the smallness of the garrison, had to be abandoned, General Clinton and many of the Americans escaping under cover of the night.

General Clinton was elected first Governor of New York State in 1777. With great executive and much military ability, he continued to fill his doubly responsible position; and the public records of that period bear witness to the extent and value of his services. In 1786, a large body of malcontents, having been discomfited in Massachusetts, took refuge in New York. Governor Clinton marched promptly to their encampment with two regiments, and in less than twelve hours the rebel army was dispersed and the leaders brought to justice. In 1788, he presided at the convention at Poughkeepsie when the federal Constitution was ratified. After five years of private life, he was again elected to the Legislature, and in 1801 was again chosen governor, holding that office until 1804, when he was elected to the vice-presidency of the United States. He filled this office until his death, which occurred in Washington on the 20th of April, 1812.

EDWARD HAND.

Edward Hand, born in Clyduff, King’s County, Ireland, Dec. 31, 1744, came to this country in 1774 with the Eighteenth Royal Irish Regulars as surgeon’s mate. Upon reaching America, he resigned his position, settled in Pennsylvania, and began the practice of medicine. The following year, however, found him taking part in the great strife, as lieutenant-colonel in Thompson’s Regiment. March 1, 1776, he was promoted to be a colonel, and took part with his regiment in the battles of Long Island and Trenton. April 1, 1777, he was advanced to the rank of brigadier-general; in October, 1778, he succeeded General Stark at Albany, and in 1780 commanded one brigade of the light infantry. At the end of the year he was appointed adjutant-general, and held that post until the close of the war, gaining the approbation of Washington. In 1784–85, he was a member of Congress, and in 1790 a signer of the Pennsylvania Constitution. In 1798, anticipating a war with France, Washington recommended the appointment of Hand as adjutant-general. He died at Rockford in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, on the 3d of September, 1802. During the Revolution he was distinguished for his fine horsemanship and his daring spirit; but he won the affection of his troops by his amiability and gentleness.

CHARLES SCOTT.

Charles Scott, born in Cumberland County, Virginia, in 1733, was in the colonial service as a non-commissioned officer at the time of Braddock’s defeat in 1755. At the beginning of our struggle for independence, he raised and commanded the first company south of the James River. In April, 1777, Congress promoted him from colonel to brigadier-general. At the retreat of Lee from Monmouth, Scott was the last to leave the field. Having been previously employed in the recruiting service in Virginia, that State was anxious he should be intrusted with the duty of her defence; Washington, however, ordered him to South Carolina, and he became a prisoner at the capture of Charleston, and was not exchanged until near the close of the war. In 1785, he removed to Woodford County, Kentucky, filling the gubernatorial chair of that State from 1808 to 1812, and dying there on the 22d of October, 1813.

EBENEZER LARNED.

Ebenezer Larned or Learned, born at Oxford, Massachusetts, on the 18th of April, 1728, served in the French and Indian War as the captain of a company of rangers. At the beginning of the Revolution, he marched to Cambridge at the head of a regiment of eight months’ militia. Arriving after the battle of Lexington, he took part in the conflict at Bunker Hill, and during the siege of Boston unbarred the gates with his own hands, when the British evacuated that city, March 17, 1776. Being wounded shortly after, he was compelled to retire from active service for nearly a year. The 2d of April, 1777, Congress appointed him a brigadier-general; but his health gradually failing, he sought permission to leave the army, and retired on the 24th of March, 1778. The following year he acted as chairman of the Constitutional Convention, and died in his native town on the 1st of April, 1801.

CHEVALIER PRUD’HOMME DE BORRE.

Chevalier Prud’homme de Borre, a French general of thirty-five years’ service in Europe, was appointed brigadier-general in the Continental army on the 11th of April, 1777. His commission was dated Dec. 1, 1776, in accordance with a compact made with him in France by the American commissioner. In July, De Borre captured a Tory under circumstances which warranted, in his judgment, the prisoner’s immediate trial and execution,--a summary proceeding, for which he was severely and justly reprehended by Washington. In August, he commanded a brigade in Sullivan’s attack on Staten Island, and in September took part in the battle of Brandywine. In this engagement De Borre claimed the post of honor, on the right wing of the army; Sullivan would not yield this to him, and when De Borre pertinaciously insisted on taking it, the former made a long and circuitous march for the purpose of outreaching him. This manœuvre did not succeed; and as a consequence, Sullivan’s brigade was not formed for action when the battle began. De Borre’s brigade was the first to give way before the British, and much of the ill fortune of that day was owing to this occurrence. His insubordination being made the subject of a Congressional inquiry, he took offence and resigned his commission on the 14th of September, 1777, and soon returned to France.

JEDEDIAH HUNTINGTON.

Jedediah Huntington, born in Norwich, Connecticut, on the 4th of August, 1743, was educated at Harvard, and graduating there when he was twenty, delivered the first English oration ever pronounced in that university. He engaged in commercial pursuits with his father, and at the beginning of the Revolution was an active member of the Sons of Liberty, and first captain, then colonel, in one of the local regiments. Joining the Continental army at Cambridge in April, 1775, he aided in repulsing the British at Danbury the following year, and on the 12th of May, 1777, was commissioned brigadier-general. In September, he was ordered to Philadelphia, and in May, 1778, to the Hudson. He served in the court-martial that tried Lee, and also in the one that examined André. At the close of the war, by a resolution in Congress he was brevetted major-general. He was State treasurer, and delegate to the convention that adopted the Constitution of the United States. He was appointed by Washington collector of customs at New London, to which place he removed in 1789, and held the office twenty-six years. A zealous supporter of charitable institutions, he was a member of the first Board of Foreign Missions. On the 10th of May, 1784, at a meeting of officers, he was appointed one of a committee of four to draft a plan of organization, which resulted in their reporting on the 13th of that month the Constitution of the Society of the Cincinnati. His first wife, Faith Trumbull, daughter of the war governor of Connecticut, died while Huntington was on his way to join the army in 1775, and his second wife was the sister of Bishop Moore of Virginia. General Huntington died in New London, Connecticut, on the 25th of September, 1818.

JOSEPH REED.

Joseph Reed was born at Trenton, New Jersey, on the 27th of August, 1742. After a thorough and comprehensive education in the colonies, he adopted the law as his profession; and his advantages were greatly increased by special training at the Temple in London. Returning to America, he settled in Philadelphia and began to practise, but was keenly alive to all passing events, and gave the British ministry timely warning of what he thought the end would be, should the growing dissatisfaction with the coercive measures adopted by Great Britain toward her American colonies lead to an open revolt and an armed resistance. His acquaintance with Washington began when the latter came to Philadelphia from Virginia as a delegate to the first Continental Congress. This friendship resulted in Reed’s accepting in 1775 the office of military secretary to the commander-in-chief. When a friend remonstrated with him on the step he had taken, he replied,--

“I have no inclination to be hanged for half-treason. When a
subject draws his sword against his prince, he must cut his way
through, if he means afterwards to sit down in safety. I have
taken too active a part in what may be called the civil part of
opposition, to renounce without disgrace the public cause when it
seems to lead to danger, and have a most sovereign contempt for the
man who can plan measures he has not spirit to execute.”

So well did he fill this position that in 1776, on the recommendation of Washington, Congress appointed him adjutant-general in the Continental service, and well did he justify the chief’s favorable opinion of him, by the vigilance, thoroughness, and ability with which he discharged the arduous duties of this most responsible office. As adjutant-general he met the messenger of Lord Howe, when the latter sent a letter to “George Washington, Esq.,” and refused to transmit it to the commander-in-chief, because it was not properly addressed. Reed’s first taste of actual war was during the series of engagements on Long Island in August, 1776; but when Washington began his retreat through the Jerseys, he sent Reed to solicit reinforcements from the State Legislature. Having spent his boyhood in Trenton, and his college days in Princeton, his accurate knowledge of the topography of the country contributed in no small degree to the glorious victories which on the 26th of December, 1776, and 3d of January, 1777, changed the gloom and despondency of the Americans into the assurance and exultation of success.

As an acknowledgment of his distinguished services during the late campaign, Congress, again at the instance of Washington, promoted Reed, his commission as brigadier-general bearing date May 12, 1777. His legal ability also received its share of recognition, the Executive Council of Pennsylvania appointing him to fill the office of chief-justice of that State. He declined both appointments, however, preferring to serve as a volunteer whenever occasion demanded his military services. Congress accepted his resignation on the 7th of June, 1777. At the first news of the invasion of Pennsylvania by the British, he joined the army again and took part in the battles of Brandywine and Germantown, and in the skirmish at Whitemarsh. Though refusing the office of chief-justice, he had accepted a seat in Congress; and his time was divided between active service in the camp at Valley Forge, and in making appeals on the floor of Congress for reinforcements and supplies for the destitute army. Impoverished by the war, and with his great heart wrung by the sufferings he had witnessed among our soldiers while in winter-quarters, he was suddenly exposed to a great temptation. Ten thousand pounds sterling, and any colonial office in the king’s gift, were tendered him, if he would withdraw from the American cause, and use his influence in reconciling the two countries. Reed hesitated not one moment, but proudly answered, “I am not worth purchasing, but such as I am, the King of Great Britain is not rich enough to buy me.” His military career closed with the battle of Monmouth on the 28th of June, 1778, and in November he was unanimously elected president of the State of Pennsylvania. To this new dignity he brought all the incorruptible integrity, fertility of resource, and indomitable courage that had characterized him as a soldier. Twice re-elected, his tenure of office expired in October, 1781. A few months before his death, he was again called to serve the public, being elected to a seat in the Continental Congress; but his health had already begun to fail, and at the early age of forty-three he died on the 5th of March, 1785.

COUNT KAZEMIERZ (OR CASIMIR) PULASKI.

Count Kazemierz (or Casimir) Pulaski, born in Podolia on the 4th of March, 1748, received a thorough military education by serving for a time in the guard of Duke Charles of Courland, and enlisting when twenty-one under his father’s banner for the rescue of Poland from her oppressors. Bereft of father and brother by the war, he yet succeeded for a time in baffling all attempts to bring his country into subjection; but at last in 1772 his enemies triumphed and the partition of Poland was the result. Pulaski’s estates were confiscated; he was outlawed; and a price was set upon his head. Escaping to Turkey, but failing to gain any assistance there, he went to Paris in 1775. Sympathizing with the oppressed of whatever nation, he sought an interview with Benjamin Franklin, tendered his services, and came to this country in May, 1777, entering our army as a volunteer. His conduct at the battle of Brandywine secured him promotion to the rank of brigadier-general, on the 15th of September, 1777, with a command of the cavalry. During the ensuing winter, however, finding the officers under him dissatisfied at receiving orders from a foreigner who could with difficulty speak their language, and whose ideas of discipline and tactics differed widely from theirs, he resigned his command, and returned to special duty at Valley Forge. At his suggestion, approved by Washington, Congress authorized the raising of an independent corps of Lancers and light infantry, in which even deserters from the British, and prisoners-of-war, could enlist. This corps became famous afterward as “Pulaski’s Legion,” and rendered great service at the attack on Savannah. In this assault, Pulaski commanded all the cavalry, both French and American. The conflict was obstinate and bloody. Pulaski was severely wounded and left on the field of battle when his men retreated; some of them, however, returned, and under fire of the enemy, bore him to camp. With others of the wounded, he was taken on board the American brig “Wasp,” which was lying in the harbor; but notwithstanding the skill of the French surgeon, he died a few days after, as she was leaving the river, and his body was consigned to the sea on the 11th of October, 1779. The “Wasp” carrying the sad intelligence to Charleston, appropriate funeral services were held in that city. The cornerstone of a monument raised to his memory in Savannah was laid by Lafayette, when in 1824 he visited this country as “the nation’s guest,” and made a triumphant progress through each of the twenty-four States.

JOHN STARK.

John Stark, born in Londonderry, New Hampshire, on the 28th of August, 1728, was of Scotch descent, his ancestors having been among the followers of John Knox. His early life was spent in agricultural pursuits, hunting, and trapping,--vocations which, though hazardous and laborious, imparted a wonderful degree of physical power and mental resource. At the age of twenty-five, he was taken prisoner by the St. Francis tribe of Indians while on a hunting expedition, and detained many months; but such was their admiration for his courage and daring that they formally invested him with the dignity of chief, and permitted him to share in the honors and successes of the tribe. Being finally ransomed by the Commissioners of Massachusetts, the General Court of that State having a “fund for the release of captives,” he returned home, and as New Hampshire never refunded this money, $103, Stark paid it back himself, earning the money by his own labor. Through the French and Indian War he sustained a distinguished part, and at the head of the “New Hampshire Rangers” often bore the brunt of the battle, when the British regulars were baffled and defeated by the Indian modes of warfare. During the twelve years of peace which followed, Stark devoted himself to his old pursuits, and to the training of his four sons; but within ten minutes after hearing the news of the battle of Lexington, he had buckled on his sword and started for the scene of action, calling upon all who loved their country to follow him. Twelve hundred men answered his summons, and from these he organized two regiments, ready for action under the Provincial authority. During the remainder of this year and all the next, Stark did all that a patriot could do to uphold the cause of liberty and independence. The enthusiasm of his men for their leader was such that when their term of enlistment expired, the regiment to a man re-enlisted; but Congress, for some inexplicable reason, passed over his claims to promotion, and advanced younger and far less experienced officers above him. Finding his protests of no avail, he resigned his commission and retired to his farm, sent his four sturdy sons into the ranks, and justified his conduct in withdrawing from active service by saying, “An officer who cannot maintain his own rank, and assert his own rights, cannot be trusted to vindicate those of his country.”

The summer of 1777 threatened evil for the New England States. Burgoyne was invading our territory from the north, while Lord Howe was making unmistakable preparations to join him by way of the Hudson. At this time of peril, the General Assembly of New Hampshire appealed to John Stark to take command of the militia and check the triumphant progress of Burgoyne. His consent was hailed with joy; willing troops flocked to his standard; and his homely appeal on the 16th of August, 1777, “We must conquer to-day, boys, or Molly Stark’s a widow!” incited his men to such deeds of valor that the battle of Bennington resulted in the complete rout of the enemy and the capture of seven hundred prisoners, four pieces of brass cannon, and many hundred stands of arms, broadswords, drums, etc. This brilliant achievement forced Congress to acknowledge their former injustice and Stark’s true worth; on the 4th of October, 1777, he was reinstated in the regular army, with the rank of brigadier-general. He remained in active service until the close of the war, when he once more retired to his farm.

Loved and revered by all who knew him, the veteran of two protracted wars, Stark lived to see that of 1812, though too old then to take the field in person. When the news reached him of the capitulation of General Hull, and the loss of the cannon which he had won at Bennington, the hero of many battles was fired with all his old enthusiasm and longed once more to lead our troops to victory. He lived to the age of ninety-four, dying at Manchester, New Hampshire, on the 8th of May, 1822. His grave on the banks of the Merrimac is marked by a granite shaft bearing the simple inscription:

MAJOR-GENERAL STARK.

JAMES WILKINSON.

James Wilkinson, born near the village of Benedict on the Patuxent, Maryland, in 1757, began the study of medicine with an uncle, who, having been a surgeon under Wolfe, told his pupil many anecdotes of the war in Canada. The military bias of his mind was further strengthened by what he saw during his frequent visits to the barracks, while attending the medical school in Philadelphia. Although having returned home to practise his profession, upon hearing the news concerning the battle of Bunker Hill, he hastened to join the army under Washington at Cambridge. Here he made the acquaintance of Benedict Arnold and Aaron Burr, and being given a captain’s commission, joined the former’s expedition into Canada. In July, 1776, he was appointed major and attached to the staff of Gates, who sent him in December with despatches to the commander-in-chief; this gave him the opportunity of taking part in the battles of Trenton and Princeton.

In 1777, Wilkinson was advanced to the rank of colonel and afterward adjutant-general, in which capacity he fought in the battles of Bemis Heights, on the 19th of September, 1777, and of Saratoga, on the 7th of October. Prior to the latter engagement, under cover of the darkness, Col. John Hardin, of Kentucky, penetrated the British lines, and gained an actual view of their strength and position. Regaining the American camp and meeting Wilkinson, he confided to him his discoveries, with the entreaty that he would immediately inform General Gates. Wilkinson did so, suppressing Hardin’s name and making _himself_ appear the hero of this midnight exploit. When Burgoyne surrendered, therefore, Wilkinson was sent to bear the news to Congress with a recommendation to make him brigadier-general. Stopping in Reading for some time, he consumed eighteen days in making the journey, and thus the news was a week old when he reached Philadelphia. A proposal in Congress to present him with a sword was defeated by Dr. Witherspoon dryly remarking, “I think ye’d better gie the lad a pair of spurs!” Nevertheless, a few days later, those members who accounted themselves personal friends and admirers of General Gates, carried the motion to make Wilkinson a brigadier-general, by brevet, on the 6th of November, 1777, and soon after he was appointed secretary of the Board of War, of which Gates was president. His delay in Reading, however, was eventually of great service to the country, for, having visited Lord Stirling’s headquarters at that place, he dined with the officers. After Lord Stirling left the table, Wilkinson, in a moment of post-prandial confidence, revealed to Major McWilliams, an aid to Lord Stirling, the scheme at that time being set on foot by Mifflin and Conway, to have Gates supersede Washington as commander-in-chief of the army. McWilliams felt it his duty to report what he had heard to Lord Stirling, who in his turn felt constrained to communicate the plot to Washington. When this infamous conspiracy became known, forty-nine officers of his own rank petitioned Congress to revoke Wilkinson’s appointment as brigadier. Hearing this, Wilkinson wrote to Congress on the 3d of March, 1778, that he was

“informed the mark of distinction conferred on him has occasioned
a dissatisfaction in the army,” that “to obviate any embarrassment
which may result from this disposition, by the consequent
resignation of officers of merit, he begs leave to relinquish his
brevet of brigadier, wishing to hold no commission unless he
can wear it to the honor and advantage of his country;” and that
“this conduct, however repugnant to fashionable ambition, he finds
consistent with those principles on which he early drew his sword
in the present contest.”

His resignation was accepted on the 6th of March, 1778; he was allowed to retain his rank of colonel, but was not again actively employed until near the close of the war, when for a time he filled the position of clothier-general to the army. Settling in Lexington, Kentucky, in 1783, he found the Mississippi River closed to American commerce, and Western produce rotting on the ground for want of transportation. Seeing he could speedily make a fortune, could he but obtain from the Spanish Government the exclusive right to trade with New Orleans, he paved the way by presenting to the commandant at Natchez a pair of Kentucky thoroughbred horses. Presently he loaded a boat with local produce and sent it down the river. It was seized, but of course released when he appeared as the owner. He now entered into formal negotiations. Taking advantage of the dissatisfaction in the West with the federal Government, because of its inability at that time to protect them from the Indians, and to open the Mississippi for purposes of transportation, Wilkinson covenanted, in return for a pension of $2,000 per annum, and the exclusive right of trade with New Orleans, to induce the Western States to separate from the Eastern, and place themselves under the protection of the Spanish Government. This plot had almost succeeded when it was discovered and defeated. Not finding trading as remunerative as he had hoped, he applied in 1791 for reinstatement in the army, and this request was granted by appointing him lieutenant-colonel, because, as was urged in Congress, being of a restless and intriguing disposition, “he was dangerous as long as he was unemployed.” His conduct justified this estimate, for he rendered such good service against the Indians that in 1792 he received the appointment of brigadier-general; and upon the death of Wayne, in 1796, he was given the supreme command on the Western frontier.

In 1805, Wilkinson was appointed Governor of Louisiana, when he discovered and disclosed the conspiracy of Aaron Burr to establish a separate confederacy beyond the Alleghanies. Burr and Andrew Jackson declaring Wilkinson to be implicated, he was tried by court-martial in 1811, but acquitted because of insufficient proof, though his correspondence with the Spanish Government, since made public, establishes his guilt. He was advanced to the rank of major-general in 1813, and employed in the North; but his operations were unsuccessful, owing to a disagreement with Wade Hampton. A court of inquiry in 1815 exonerated him, however; but upon the reorganizing of the army, he was not retained in the service, and retired to Mexico, where he had acquired large estates. He died in the vicinity of the capital on the 28th of December, 1825.

CHEVALIER DE LA NEUVILLE.